BART ditches Urban Alchemy for safe elevator program

Urban Alchemy is laying off 57 workers after losing its BART elevator attendant contract. BART isn't ending the attendant program — just choosing a new provider.

The Facts

Urban Alchemy announced it will lay off up to 57 San Francisco employees after losing a contract for unarmed safety attendants in BART elevators at the Embarcadero, Montgomery, Powell, and Civic Center stations. After running a competitive bidding process, BART switched to District Works, based in Oakland, to run the program.

The Context

The elevator attendant program was created in 2018 to provide unarmed safety attendants in BART elevators, which were notorious for being used as bathrooms and for drug sales. The programs has been staffed by Urban Alchemy employees since the first trial programs at Civic Center and Powell Street stations.

Urban Alchemy has been both praised and criticized in San Francisco. According to their internal data, Urban Alchemy collected tens of thousands of bags of trash, including nearly 60,000 used needles, and disrupted thousands of potentially violent incidents across SF and Oakland in 2023. They can also be credited with reversing thousands of overdoses (thus saving hundreds to thousands of lives). However, some have criticized them over a lack of oversight, transparency, and the nonprofit’s internal operations.

The GrowSF Take

We love the elevator attendant program, and there's no question that it has improved the safety and cleanliness of the elevators. People with limited mobility depend on the elevators to access BART, and they deserve to have safe, clean, and reliable elevators.

Competition is good — especially when it comes to public dollars. BART keeping the ambassador program but switching vendors shows they’re looking for results, not just headlines. That’s a step in the right direction.